About this project

$1,735

pledged of $1,500 goal

27

backers

The purpose of this
project is to help an artist achieve her dream, just like the character in my
work-in-progress novel, Mercury’s Daughter. My novel tells
the story of a thirteen-year-old girl with a love of science in 16th
century Flanders (modern-day Belgium) struggling to find her place in her world
while trying to free her astronomer father who has been arrested for heresy.
While my novel is nearly complete, the final chapters hinge on research that can only be done in Belgium itself. I hope to accomplish raising the additional funds I need to travel to Belgium through this Kickstarter project.

During the first week of
July each year, the city of Brussels, Belgium hosts its annual “Ommegang”
pageant, which is a reenactment of the 1549 visit of the Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V. Since this actual
historical event plays a pivotal role in my novel, I feel a firsthand
experience of the reenactment will help immensely with my research.

As one of the main settings for my
novel, Brussels is also host to many sites that are described in my story that
would be beneficial to experience firsthand. Brussels and nearby Bruges are also home to specific museums
and experts on sixteenth-century Flemish daily life that I will visit and
interview in person.

This
trip will provide me with unparalleled research opportunities, as I will be
able to "time travel" and experience Charles V's procession into
Brussels in a way similar to my main character. This is more than a
research trip. It will allow me to
check for accuracy involving my novel's setting and period details as well as
look for more sensory feelings to enhance the story. This trip will allow
me to feel the air and excitement of Brussels during the "Ommegang"
and visit the places where my characters live.

Early drafts of the manuscript received a first place award
in the middle grade division at the Los Angeles SCBWI (Society of Children's
Book Writers and Illustrators) Writer's Day. A number of agents and
editors, who have read portions of the manuscript, have expressed interest in
considering the completed novel. Traveling
to Belgium for this research will give me the insight to finish the novel and
submit it to these agents and editors by late fall of 2012.

The funds raised through Kickstarter
will be used to offset the high cost of peak travel airfare, since the event
only takes place at the height of the summer travel season. All other expenses will be paid for
through travel vouchers, free hotel nights and my own funds.

Please help this artist achieve her dream. Thank you.

The following is a synopsis of my novel, Mercury's Daughter:

Thirteen-year-old Elsabeth Van Berghe fears that she is
“sick for the stars,” yet she is no longer the little girl whom her astronomer
father used to tell constellation stories to up on the rooftop. As this is her last year of training to become a wife by
the sisters of the local beguinage and her great aunt, Peetje Floris, Elsabeth
must give up her beloved night sky in order to take her place in society like
her own mother, a talented lace maker and ideal homemaker, did in her day. Not
only is science relegated to the realm of men like her father’s new apprentice,
Jakop, but one must be extra cautious when living in the Flemish city of Brugge
during the mid-sixteenth century. Many believe astronomy and science to be “the
devil’s work.”

During a last secret excursion up to the rooftop to look
upon the night sky, Elsabeth discovers what she believes to be a new star in the
constellation, Cygnus. Her father
swears her to secrecy after telling him about the discovery, yet when he writes
to his peers, his letter is diverted to the magistrates by a disgruntled former
patron, Lord Rykeman. Father becomes accused of heresy and is
arrested, and it is up to Elsabeth to clear his name.

As days turn
into months without Father, Elsabeth undergoes the struggles of growing up
while trying every means possible to help him. Local townspeople, other girls
at the beguinage, her secret crush, and her closest friend begin to maintain
their distance. Even Peetje Floris, the rock of the family, finally succumbs to
illness from the stress. Only Jakop, the boy whom she resented for being her
father’s apprentice, and Sister Bernadette, her favorite beguine, stand by her during
her darkest moments. It is with
Sister Bernadette that she begins to heal after Peetje’s death, and where she
merges the Flemish art of bobbin lace making, her late mother’s passion, with
her own love of astronomy by creating a design inspired by her father’s new
star.

When Elsabeth is given the opportunity to
visit her closest friend, now newly married to Lord Rykeman, in Brussels during
the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s tour with his sister, Queen Maria, Elsabeth leaves the beguinage to plead for her father’s release.
Her mission is cut short when Lord Rykeman takes advantage of her during
a banquet honoring the emperor in the darkened corridors of Queen Maria's palace, forcing Elsabeth to flee. Yet, the lace design she wears upon her
gown is noticed by a loyal lady-in-waiting, and it is this work that finally leads
to a meeting with Queen Maria and to her father’s release.

Though she saves her father, Elsabeth
decides to teach at a beguinage for a time near him in Germany, where he has
gone to help plan a new university.
There she can consider what her future holds, whether that be as the
wife of her newfound love, Jakop, or something else. No matter her decision, she knows that science and astronomy
must always be a part of her life, for it is through studying the heavens
themselves that she views the world.

Here also is the prologue to Mercury's Daughter and the first page of chapter one:

MERCURY’S DAUGHTER

Prologue

Father
holds out his armillary sphere to me.
“Go ahead, Elsabeth. Have a
try.”

My eyes
widen at the beautiful instrument.
Its shape matches the world’s shape, a perfect sphere, not flat as
scientists of old once believed.

The
brass of the armillary sphere shines brighter than a knight’s sword. I long to touch it but have never been
allowed to before. Reaching out, I
run my hands along the sphere’s concentric rings. Circles criss-cross one
another, showing the positions of the stars and planets in relation to the earth,
the center of our solar system. My fingertips bump along raised numbers that
line the circles’ perimeters, feeling like they have finally found their
rightful home.

Until
the burning begins.

Slowly,
steadily, the instrument’s metal heats in my hands, hotter than a cauldron over
a hearth fire. I try to pull back,
but my fingers stick to the melting rings. Flames flare over my fingers, eating away at my flesh and
smelling like charred venison. The
fire crawls over my hands and up my arms, leaving only bones in its wake. To my
elbows, my shoulders, until finally, the flames brush against my cheek and
lips, stifling my screams…

I’m burning! I’m burning!

Chapter One

Mercurius

God’s
moon, if Peetje Floris doesn’t retire soon for the night, I think I shall hang
myself from the rafters right here over my cot—unless the smoke from the hearth
downstairs chokes the death out me first.

I clutch
my pillow over my nose and mouth, but a straw sack makes for a poor mask. I can
almost taste Peetje Floris’ hare stew from supper again, with a lot less flavor
and a lot more gristle. Ugh, its stench is foul enough to
fight the devil himself. Families in Brugge shouldn’t feed
their fires so many bits of wood in autumn to keep the devil’s breath at bay
during the night. It always leads
to more houses going up in flames, like Andre the Glazier’s or Chretien the
Potmaker’s last year. From
the smell of things, I wouldn’t wonder if our house were next to roast at the
stake, as the heretics do underneath the belfry in the market square.

Bits
of straw poke through my pillow’s thin linen cover and scratch at my cheek,
prodding me to stay to my bed. Nay, I
haven’t stayed awake this long only to sleep now. It’s already the end of
September, the end of the harvest. The sky over Brugge today was as blue as the
gown the Blessed Virgin wears who watches over the market square. I have to
grab this chance of a clear night by the tail while I still can. Already it’s
been over a fortnight since I’ve gone up to the rooftop.

Tonight,
I must have my night sky.

I lower
my pillow to my stomach, the stench having simmered its fury, and reach for De Astronomica underneath my
blanket. I’ve already been
deep within the pages of Father’s book earlier, having taken it out of its
secret place inside my mattress to pass the time. Andromeda and the sea
monster. Perseus and Medusa. Orion
the hunter. Pegasus the flying
horse. The old tales are
as close to viewing the constellations as I can be without being outside in the
dark.

As God
as my protector, if I were an astronomer, I’d observe the stars and planets
whenever I could and not stare at star charts all day, like Father does. He doesn’t even notice when one of his
old books on astronomy goes missing, as they are in need of constant dusting
from disuse. But I guess one
doesn’t need to view the stars or read stories about constellations in order to
cast horoscopes for one’s bread and broth. Casting horoscopes keeps the
merchants and nobles happy, and one must always stay in the sunlight of their
uppers in Brugge.

Support this project

Select this reward

Pledge $10 or more
About $10

You will receive a lace bookmark, a thank you in the acknowledgements of my book, a copy of my newsletter recapping my research experience at the Ommegang in words and photographs, and a handmade postcard sent to you from Brussels.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

You will receive an invitation to a "Constellation and a Cuppa" tea party at my home if you live in the area or a special "Constellation and a Cuppa" tea goody bag mailed to you, a lace bookmark, a thank you in the acknowledgements of my book, a copy of my newsletter recapping my research experience at the Ommegang in words and photographs, and a handmade postcard sent to you from Brussels.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

You will receive a specialty box of homemade chocolate chip scones (made by me with real Belgian chocolate), an invitation to a "Constellation and a Cuppa" tea party at my home if you live in the area or a special "Constellation and a Cuppa" tea goody bag mailed to you, a lace bookmark, a thank you in the acknowledgements of my book, a copy of my newsletter recapping my research experience at the Ommegang in words and photographs, and a handmade postcard sent to you from Brussels.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $75 or more
About $75

You will receive a specialty box of homemade lace cookies, homemade chocolate chip scones (made with real Belgian chocolate), an invitation to a "Constellation and a Cuppa" tea party at my home if you live in the area or a special "Constellation and a Cuppa" tea goody bag mailed to you, a lace bookmark, a thank you in the acknowledgements of my book, a copy of my newsletter recapping my research experience at the Ommegang in words and photographs, and a handmade postcard sent to you from Brussels.